Kim Jong-un ‘testing submarines’ for future missile launches

Kim Jong-un paying a visit to troops off the coast of North Korea in 2014RODONG SINMUM/EPA

Kim Jong-un’s regime may be preparing to test-launch a new ballistic missile from a submarine, satellite images of the Sinpo South shipyard suggest.

The imagery indicates that North Korea may be accelerating the development of the sea-based arm of its nuclear forces, according to the respected 38 North website run by the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies.

“Of particular interest in the imagery is that netting or [tarpaulins] have been suspended above both the fore and aft decks of the Sinpo-class submarine, obscuring any activity taking place beneath them,” wrote Joseph Bermudez, an analyst. “This was last done prior to the July 9, 2016 test of the Pukguksong-1, suggesting that the north may be preparing for a new series of at-sea test launches,…